Indian Railways to play video on platform information screens explaining delays

Due to various reasons trains often get delayed, therefore, Indian Railways will now onwards explain reason for delay in train service through video messages on platform information screens, seeking cooperation from passengers

Indian Railways: From this week, the one-minute video clip will appeal passengers to be patient if there is any delay in trains departure. Image source: PTI

Due to various reasons trains often get delayed, therefore, Indian Railways will now onwards explain reason for delay in train service through video messages on platform information screens, seeking cooperation from passengers. From this week, the one-minute video clip will appeal passengers to be patient if there is any delay in trains departure. The initiative was to assuage passengers' anger in the wake of delay. Besides that video, there will also be audio message, which will explain the reason for the delay. It will apologise to the passengers for the delay, while conveying the message that the track maintenance work will give better travelling experience in future. Images of workers working on the track and waiting passengers will also be displayed at different stations.

In 2017-18, punctuality of the railways has gone down. Almost 30 per cent of trains were running late in 2017-18. In the past two financial years, it was better, according to official data. The punctuality of mail and express trains were even worse. Between April 2017 and March 2018, the punctuality performance was 71.39 per cent compared to 76.69 per cent in the same period of 2016-17.

Indian Railways said that train delays were a common pain point for passengers, therefore, important measures have been taken to improve punctuality of trains. It said the short-term pain will ensure that there are fewer accidents that cause delays. Earlier, the Indian Railways said that drawbacks in signal system and repair works on tracks are the reasons for the delays, and it would be introducing ETCS-2 system to reduce such delays.